Taking dinner to a recovering friend - meal ideas?

[Anonymous]

I could use some inspiration - I am taking dinner to a friend who had surgery (and their family) this week. Any favorite meals you do for this? I'm leaning towards comfort food since I'm not sure how they will be feeling. It's in a few days so I have time to grocery shop and cook, I'm just having trouble figuring out my plan.

[Anonymous]

Beef stew with mashed potatoes and a salad

[Anonymous]

I love this soup recipe:

https://www.skinnytaste.com/beef-tomato-and-acini-di-pepe-soup/

bring a good loaf of bread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love this soup recipe:

https://www.skinnytaste.com/beef-tomato-and-acini-di-pepe-soup/

bring a good loaf of bread.

I make that all the time! So good!

[Anonymous]

Quiche, fruit salad, baguette, cookies or brownies for dessert. I bring plenty so there will be leftovers.

[Anonymous]

Where do you buy acini di Pepe? It is my favorite for wedding soup, but I cannot find it at Giant, Wegmans, or Whole Foods. I usually resort to orzo, but I prefer something smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quiche, fruit salad, baguette, cookies or brownies for dessert. I bring plenty so there will be leftovers.

I received this same meal as a gift after surgery and it was just perfect.

[Anonymous]

For surgery recovery, I bear in mind that patients often cannot move much, so they're constipated and need fruits and veggies; and if they have heavy doses of steroids, salty stuff will puff them up even more. So I tend towards low-salt stews with lots of whole veggies and ripe fruit for dessert.

[Anonymous]

Assuming there are no food issues:

Baked pasta of some kind (ziti/lasagna) with salad and bread
Chicken marbella with mashed potatoes
Sheetspan chicken schwarma or fajitas with fixings
Enchiladas with avocado/citrus salad

Anything you can prep/par or totally cook in advance and warm up on site. You don't want to "take over" their kitchen and make a huge mess.

if there are kids, maybe bring the stuff to make ice cream cones.

[Anonymous]

If the recovering person will also be eating, I would go for something fairly bland... a really good chicken soup, ziti, lemon chicken with mashed potatoes... all with bread, salad, dessert.

[Anonymous]

I made a ziti with turkey sausage, salad, baguette and cookies for a friend in a similar situation. I know the ziti is pretty trite but she has 4 very active kids (2 teens and 2 tweens) and her mother and SIL also live with them. So, I needed something that would serve a lot of people and wanted no prep other than reheating.

[Anonymous]

Ask them what they and their family like to eat.

[Anonymous]

I would make braised chicken with mashed potatoes and some kind of cooked green veggie (broccoli, green beans, asparagus).

[Anonymous]

What type of surgery - an appendectomy or a hammer toe? Big difference.

A lot of times the antibiotics have nausea as a side effect; ymmv.

provide disposable containers and paperwork (no dishwashing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do you buy acini di Pepe? It is my favorite for wedding soup, but I cannot find it at Giant, Wegmans, or Whole Foods. I usually resort to orzo, but I prefer something smaller.

i am the one who posted the recipe. I can't find acini di Pepe ether so I use ditalini.